Criminal minds- Long Distance
by InaraXavier
Summary: It's been 10 months since Elena was reassigned. Things have changed at the BAU, Emily is now in London, and the team is waiting for their newest member. Reid misses Elena more and more each day but they talk whenever they can, but he hasn't seen her in months. Follow on from CM 3- AFtermath
1. Chapter 1

_Reid's P. O. V _

"_What's that face for, El?" I looked up from my desk and saw Elena and Hotch walking back into the bullpen. Elena has something in her hand but before I could ask her what it was Hotch said_

"_There was a condition to Elenas reinstatement" I stood up as Rossi said _

"_What is it?" Before Hotch answered him Elena came over to me, took me hand and lead me into the conference room. _

_The door closed as I said _

"_What's going on El?" She learnt against the table and replied _

"_To get reinstated to the Buero I have to prove I can follow orders and protocol"_

"_Okay, that's not so b…" she cut me off by saying _

"_With a special forces CIA Group for 1 year Minimum" I felt my heart stop after she spoke. I went over to the couch and said _

"_A year. You've got to work for the CIA for a year?" She came and sat next to me, held my hands and said _

"_Yeah. The team I'll be stationed with call themselves the pack. They work hand-in-hand with Interpol as well as the CIA. They travel across the world tracking down terrorists, murderers, basically anyone on the CIA radar… Each case can last from a couple weeks to a few months, possibly longer" _

"_When do you have to leave?"_

"_A week"_

"_A week!?" _

"_They wanted me to start Immediately, Hotch managed to get me some time" _

"_I just got you back and now you have to leave again…_

—

10 months later

Reid's P.O.V.

"So where are you this week?" It's currently 8AM here in virginia and i just arrived at Quantico. As I pulled up into the carpark elena rang me. We call each other whenever we can.  
"_We just finished a case in Vietnam"  
_"So it's like 7 at night for you there"

"_Yeah. I just got back to the hotel. I'm absolutely shattered but i wanted to talk to you" _I smirked and said_  
_"So you miss me then?"

"_Of course i do you idiot. And i know for a fact you miss me"_

"How can you be so sure"

"_Right you do realise Garcia sends me updates about you guys?" _  
"Well i do now" i heard her laugh down the phone. I then got into the lift as she said  
"_So any news on the new team member?" _

"Should be starting any day now. But we still don't know who it is"  
"_Well that must be annoying, means Pen can't do one of her pre-background checks" _

"Yeah she's going mad. You know what shes like"  
"_Yeah I do, and I miss it so much_"

"We all miss you too. Hopefully, you'll be able to come home soon?"

"_You know I can't answer that, Spence. I wanna come home, i really do but…" _I got out of the lift as i said

"I know, you've got a lot going on. I just miss you, I want to see you"

"_Well there's only a couple of months left on my probation so hopefully that'll be it" _  
"Do you not know anything about how you probation is going?"

"_Not a clue, My CO wont tell me anything. But I think I'm doing okay"_

"Well that's something" When I sat down at my desk I heard sigh before saying

"_Look, Spence, I know this is hard for you. I was gone for nine months back for one and now I'm on the other side of the world. It's hard for me too, the only thing getting me through this is thinking about coming home to you, getting back to normality, getting on with our lives together… we're just gonna have to wait a little longer, Yeah?" _I glanced up and saw JJ arriving at her desk, She gave me a small smiled before taking off her coat. Morgan then entered the bullpen and went to get some coffee. I then said to El

"Yeah. Alright, i gotta go and you need some sleep. I'll call you later"

"_Okay, i love you" _

"I love you too, Bye"  
"_See you soon Einstein"_

When I put my phone down on my desk JJ asked

"So how's Elena?" I logged onto my computer and replied  
"Good, she's currently Vietnam" Morgan then came over and said  
"Any word on how her probation is going?"

"Not a thing" before either of them could say anything else Garcia came into the bull-pen and said

"Hey did you here?" Morgan replied  
"Hear What momma?"

"Kate Callahan is our new team member, She's in Hotch's office right now" JJ then said  
"At least they hired a female agent" I then said

"Speaking of female agent, How long have you been sending El updates on us" we all looked at Garcia who then said

"Urm she asked me too, she knows what you guys are like" Before I could say anything else Rossi came out of his office closely followed by Hotch and the new agent.

Hotch then spoke

"We've got a case" without hesitation we all got up and headed into the conference room. As we all took our seats Hotch said

"Before we get started, id like you all to meet Kate Callahan" We all introduced ourselves to her and then Hotch handed the room over to Garcia

"Well my intrepid adventurers The mad butcher of Bakersfield has left another torso in the desert. This brings the body count to 3 this month and still none of them have been identified" Rossi then said

"At this pace he's going for a record" Kate then spoke

"Yeah, and quite the imagery. What's he trying to say? A torso by itself has no life. Right. It can't survive" JJ then said

"It might be how he sees himself. " then morgan

"It could also be a simple forensic countermeasure. He dumps the torso after getting rid of all the pieces that can identify his victims" Rossi spoke once more

"That would make sense for someone who's criminally sophisticated, but this guy's leaving his DNA all over the torsos" Next was Garcia

"Well, we've kept tabs in CODIS. He's not in any system" The Hotch

"But it's still a risk for him and taunt to us" Morgan then threw his pen lid at me and said

"Hey, Pretty Boy. You're awfully quiet" I look up briefly before saying

"I'm just reading here the M.E. thinks the victims were alive for 48 hours while he disarticulates" Kate then said

"That means the unsub's sexual gratification comes from cutting" I spoke again

"Exactly. He wouldn't go to these extremes if he were merely discarding the limbs. He obviously enjoys the ritual. It's some kind of torture" Kate then spoke again

"So if it isn't about easy disposal, the limbs could be his trophies" Hotch then said

"He'd need preserving agents and isolation. Garcia, come up with a list of suppliers in Southern California. We'll cross that with a geographical profile when we have it" I then said "Keywords sodium dioxide and silicate" SHe smiled and said

"You're the best." Hotch then said

"Wheels up in 20"


	2. Chapter 2

**10 hours earlier **

Elenas P.O.V.

"_Vietnam is an incredible place, I just wish Spence was here to enjoy it with me. We've been here on assignment for a couple of days doing recon. That's all it takes for us to make the arrest some of the time, just a few days and then bam onto the next one. _

_My team isn't exactly what I imagined when I first heard about the pack. There are 5 other members of the team and I'm the only female. The leader of the team is former US Navy Captain Casey O'Neil, we just call him 'Cap'. Next in the hierarchy of the pack is Jenson Walters, he's the tech guy of the group. The team's resident genius is Tej Jackson. The group's weapons expert is Rogue Wild. The final member of the group is Toby Holland. And then there's me, the newbie. Sometimes the team is great but other times they are just so bloody childish. _

_Take now as an example, I'm sitting here on the river side whilst everyone else is just chilling out before we head off. They guys are playing a stupid card game…"_

I was snapped out of my thoughts when a small ball of paper was thrown at me. I looked up as Jenson said

"You in or not?" I closed my book and replied

"And get cheated again?" He looked at me in shock before saying

"What? No, Jenson may lie, Jenson may steal, Jenson may…" I cut him off as I got up and said

"Refer to himself in the third person?"

"Occasionally. But Jenson won't cheat" I pulled the back of my army green t-shirt down as I walked over to them. Toby then said

"Well, Jenson can relax. I was worried about Tej" I sat down next to Rouge as he said

"Yeah, right. It's always the quiet ones. The name of the game Is Blind Man's Bluff. High card wins" Rouge delt out the cards to all of us as Tej said

"How in the hell can a man cheat you at Blind man's bluff?" I just smirked at the comment.

As the others picked up their cards, I just left mine alone. The four men rubbed the cards between their hands as I pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail. Jenson then said

"Feel like I got something here. I got something" Whilst toby kept repeating

"Queen, king, jack. Queen, king, jack." Rouge then said

"All right. Princess, count us down"

"OKay boys...One, two, three, go" the second said go, the four men pressed their cards to their foreheads. Each had a different card and each card wasn't that great. Rouge smiled and said

"I got a great, great feeling about this one" Jenson then smirked and commented

"Your mama had a great feeling last night" After he made the comment i pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. Children, I work with a bunch of children. Rouge was about to say something to Jenson when Cap yelled

"Hey, losers!" We turned to Cap as he said

"It's time" we all jumped into action. Cap threw me the hummers keys just before we all piled into the car.

20 minutes later we were at the rendezvous site. Jenson was leant up against the hummer typing away on his laptop. Rouge stood not far from him with a sniper rifle on his back. Tej was leaning against the hummer and Toby was sitting on the roof. Cap stood at the edge of the cliff looking at the compound below and stood behind him. Cap then turned to us and began the debrief

"We got a drug and arms dealer named Fadhil...running a homegrown terrorist assembly line out by the Madre de Dios River basin. We find it, we paint it for a laser-targeted bomb, we get the hell out" I then said

"No muss, no fuss." Rouge then replied

"For that, they need us?" Jenson then said

"You'd rather take on 50 dudes with AK's?" Toby then said

"All right, I got eyes on Monsieur Fadhil" I glanced over and saw him looking through a pair of binoculars. I threw the laser pointer at him and said

"Paint it"

"Showtime, fellas. Go ahead and call me Michelangelo" Toby activated the laser and then Cap said  
"Tej, call it in" Tej took the radio from the car and said

"Dropkick, this is Pinball. Request fire mission. The target is lased, and you are clear

to make a run from north to south. Over."

"_Roger, Pinball, target acquired and locked. Be advised, ETA fireworks, zero eight Mikes."_

"Roger, we'll break out the earplugs."

Just when we thought things were done Toby said

"Uh Boss?" We all looked at him as he said

"They're using kids as mules." Toby threw the binoculars at Cap as i pointed at Tej and said

"Call it in, now"

"We have children at the target site. Repeat, we have eyes on children at the target site. Please advise"

"_Acknowledged. Maintain position" _Rouge then said

"Maintain position? What is he talking about?" Tej then said down the radio

"We strongly recommend cancellation of payload delivery"

"_Your orders stand. Prep for extraction" _Cap gave us a slight nod before Tej passed me the radio and Toby broke the laser pointer.

I then said down the radio

"Dropkick, this is Pinball. Equipment has suffered catastrophic system failure. We are calling an on-site abort" the radio was silent for a couple minutes before a voice finally came through

"_Well, that was just stupid"_

"Is this Mission Controller?"

"_You can call me Niklaus, Agent Miller" _

"No one uses names on comms. This is a secure military channel"

"_Really?" _Cap took the radio from me and spoke to the Niklaus person

"Goddamnit, listen to me. There are children on site"

"_And you think I didn't know that? We locked coordinates the moment you painted. Delivery will occur on schedule. Have a super day" _

"You can't…" The radio then cut out.

Cap threw the radio against a rock before spinning back around and barked out

"Shit! Jensen, contact the plane directly. Call an abort." Jenson was typing furiously on his laptop before slapping the car and saying

"I'm trying. He's jamming us. There's nothing I can do." I looked out at the compound, took my gun from my jeans waistband and said

"There's something we can do." I cocked my gun just as Cap took over

"All right, here it is. Six against the fortress. We got maybe, what, eight minutes before an airstrike sets the world on fire." Toby passed out the bullet proof vests whilst saying

"Plenty of time" I took mine, took the keys from my pocket and said

"I'll drive"

**7PM**

We just got back to the hotel we've been staying at. It's getting late here, I'm tired, achy and just want to go to bed but after today I really have to talk to him. As I walked into my room I pulled my phone from my jacket. Without any hesitation at all I dialed the familiar number. I sat down on the bed as his soothing voice came through the phone  
"_Hey, Babe" _I felt tears spring to my eyes but pushed them down as i replied  
"Hey"

"_So where are you this week?" _

"We just finished a case in Vietnam"  
"_So it's like 7 at night for you there" _

"Yeah. I just got back to the hotel. I'm absolutely shattered but i wanted to talk to you" I could hear that he was smirking as he said_  
_"_So you miss me then?" _

"Of course I do you idiot. And i know for a fact you miss me"

"_How can you be so sure"_

"_Right you do realise Garcia sends me updates about you guys?"  
_"_Well i do now" _I let out a small laugh before hearing the elevator ding, He must be at work. I then said  
"So any news on the new team member?"

"_Should be starting any day now. But we still don't know who it is"_  
"Well that must be annoying, means Pen can't do one of her pre-background checks"

"_Yeah she's going mad. You know what shes like" _  
"Yeah I do, and I miss it so much"

"_We all miss you too. Hopefully, you'll be able to come home soon?" _I sighed, rested my head on my free and replied

"You know I can't answer that, Spence. I wanna come home, I really do but…"

"_I know, you've got a lot going on. I just miss you, I want to see you" _

"Well there's only a couple of months left on my probation so hopefully that'll be it"  
"_Do you not know anything about how your probation is going?"_

"Not a clue, My CO won't tell me anything. But I think I'm doing okay"

"_Well that's something"_ I could hear the sadness in his voice, so i sighed again, got up and sad

"Look, Spence, I know this is hard for you. I was gone for nine months back for one and now I'm on the other side of the world. It's hard for me too, the only thing getting me through this is thinking about coming home to you, getting back to normality, getting on with our lives together… we're just gonna have to wait a little longer, Yeah?"

"_Yeah. Alright, i gotta go and you need some sleep. I'll call you later"_

"Okay, i love you"

"_I love you too, Bye"_  
"See you soon Einstein" When the phone line cut out I threw my phone on the bed and sat back down. That's when it really hit me.

25

25 children. 25 kids, that's how many we lost.

_We finished loading the kids in the old school bus we found, just as Clay made his appearance. Jenson then yelled whilst closing the back door_

_"__What did you stop__for coffee in there!" the second they were in the bus, we sped out of the compound into the forest. As I was focusing on what was in front of us I heard the guys talking the first voice I clearly heard way Cap_

_"__What kind of blast radius are we looking at? … Okay, Elena, I need you to make this bus go a little faster" i closed the window next to me and said_

_"__Everybody, hold on to something. Like right now!" I shifted the gears precisely and in the rear view mirror I could see the fire from the explosion getting closer and closer. The fire reached the back of the bus as I started muttering_

_"__I got it, I got it!" Moments later the fire stopped and we crashed into a small marsh lands. Jenson shook my shoulder and said_

_"__Good Job El" I blew a piece of hair off my face and said  
__"__Told you I had it" _

_We unloaded the kids from the bus and trekked through the forest to the extraction point. Cap and Rouge were up front, Tej and Toby were either side of the group of kids whilst Jenson and I followed up the rear. As we were walking Jenson was rambling _

_ "__My favorite part was when we were completely on fire. But the shootout was good times" I smiled at his rambling and as we got into a nearby clearing a helicopter flew over causing Toby to say_

_"__There she blows" Everyone (Including the kids) ran over to the helicopter. As we got to the helicopter one of the soldiers said to Cap_

_"__Sir, there's not enough room for your team and them" Without hesitating Cap said_

_"__Then it's them. Let's go, guys" one by one we loaded the kids onto the chopper._

_We stood back and watched the chopper take off. Toby then said_

_"__Hope they make it to the court martial '' That's when I heard something, a buzzing sound. I then said_

_"__What is that? You hear that?" The radio on Tej's belt then randomly picked up interference, he then muttered_

_"__Guys, this is bad" The interference cleared up and a new voice came through_

_"__Niklaus, Cobra One, Bandit locked."  
__"__Understood. Cobra One, kill Bandit." the buzzing sound then turned into a whooshing sound. We all turned to the source and saw a jet fighter in the distance launching a missile. The missile got closer and closer until it enetably hit it's target, The Helicopter. _


	3. Chapter 3

Elenas P.O.V.

It's been just under 2 months since the Vietnam situation, it's been a tough couple of months for all of us. We've been stateside a couple of times since the incident but I never mentioned it to Spence. The first time was just after the incident, we had to go back to debrief with CIA superiors. At the time of the meeting I was asked whether I was good to stay with the team or if I preferred to be transferred back to the BAU…

I said no.

I can't go back to the BAU until we find out who that Nicklaus guy is and put him behind bars. Hotch knew I've been stateside and knows about what happened in Vietnam. He was told about what happened because he was invited to our debrief after the situation. He also promised me that he wouldn't tell anyone back at the BAU until I was ready for people to know.

We've worked a couple cases since the situation but kept the Nicklaus case open and we work on it every chance we get. We've made hardly any progress in the case but I've started to put a preliminary profile together:

Male (obviously)

30-40s

High class job

Confident

Sadistic

Massive Ego

Thinks he can get away with whatever he wants

Has connections to people in high place

That's all I've got. And I got that from the few minutes we spoke over the radio. It's a pretty basic profile but they always are until you learn more about the unsub.

We're currently at our base of operation in Buenos aires. Considering the amount of money this team is granted for our missions by the CIA, they could at least provide us with better accommodation. We keep getting placed in dump motels, and old warehouses. Take now as an example; the warehouse they've placed us in is much like the old one i used when i worked with MI6 but a bit more worn down.

Anyway right now I'm working on one of the trucks. The guys went out join riding last night and busted the cooling fan and maxed out the turbo charger.  
"Yo Kid!" I looked up from the engine and saw Rouge standing in the doorway. He then said  
"Cap wants us. New case" I put the wrench down, got the old rag from my jeans and followed him out of the room.

We all gathered around the table as Cap threw a bunch of case files down. He then began talking

"Interpol has requested our help….

_London- 12 hours later_

Emily's P.O.V.

I'm standing here in the ops room at interpol looking at the photos of the victims. My first call was to the BAU for a consultation but Hotch suggested I reach out to the Pack. his exact words and i quote were

'_Try reaching out to the pack for help. Normally I'd be more than happy to help but we've got a lot on our plate here."  
_So that's what I did. I got in touch with Captain O'Neil and insured me that he would be here with the team at some point today.

So in anticipation for their arrival I made sure that all the case information was set out in one of the conference rooms. I'm also looking forward to see Elena again. I haven't seen her since i left to run Interpol.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when i familiar voice echoed in the room

"Nice set up you got here Emily" I immediately smiled, as i turned around and saw Elena and her team. She matched my smile, dropped her bag and made her way over to me. I wrapped my arms around her and said  
"It's so good to see you"

"You too. It's been way too long"

"You got that right" We pulled out of the hug and then Elena turned and said  
"Emily Prentiss. Meet the Pack. Captain Casey O'Neil, Jenson Walters, Tej Jackson, Rogue Wild and Toby Holland. Guys, this Emily" One by one I shook their hands. Jenson then said  
"So care to fill us in on this case"

"Of course, I've got you set up in conference room B. And arrangements have been made for you to stay at a nearby hotel" I then lead the pack into the conference room.

Elena's P.O.V.

When we entered the conference room, i dumped my bag next to the table before going over to the board. Emily then started talking  
"Three years ago there was a series of murders across the UK that caught interpol's attention. At that time the media named him Hangman, for obvious reasons…" My eyes skimmed over the victim photos. Deep red robe burns and purple bruises wrapped around the victims throats. Next to each victim was a perfectly tied noose. Emily then continued  
"The killings continued for 3 months and interpol got nowhere. After those 3 months the killings just stopped… they stopped for a years before he came back" I then said

"A year is a hell of a cooling off period. So it's possible that the unsub has a year long commitment and only gets three months off at a time?"  
"I thought the same thing" Rouge then said

"If that is the case then the killings are about to start back up again. How many people has this guy killed" Emily answered him

"At the moment the body count is at 62. 31 victims every 3 months" Cap then said  
"Lets not add another 31 victims to this guys list. Chief Prentiss do you mind helping Elena with the profile" Emily smiled and said

"Just like old times. And you don't have to call me Chief, Emily is just fine" i then walked over to Emily, put a hand on her shoulder and said

"Lets get some coffee and get to work"

**The next day **

Emily and I have been working on the profile for 12ish hours. We've been working in her office whilst the guys have been doing what they do in the conference room. I'm currently reading over some of the old case notes and can feel Emily watching me. I put the notes down and said

"Okay, what?" she snapped out of her gaze and said  
"Sorry"

"You've been watching me for nearly an hour. So what's up"

"I was going to ask you the same thing"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been here for 1 day and you haven't called or texted Spence once"

"So, we're working"

"You guys didn't break up, did you?"

"What! No of course we didn't. Just got a lot on my plate right now. I don't want to off load it onto him"

"Then off load it onto me. Come on El, talk to me" I took a deep breath before finally saying

"Hotch already knows but i'm not ready for Spence to know yet"

"Elena, what happened?"

"For the past two months we've been looking for this guy called Nicklaus. He popped up on our radar when we were in Vietnam. He's responsible for the death of 25 children..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Two weeks later **

Reid's P. O. V

JJ and I are currently standing in Montana Police Station whilst the rest of the team is out looking for our unsub, Claire Dunbar. I'm currently looking at the evidence board when JJs phone rang

"Hey, Hotch, what do you have?"

"_We think Claire Dunbar is at Cypress Memorial cemetery." _I then said

"That's out near Bonner mountain"

"_You're closer to the location than we are" _JJ then said

"All right, we're on our way" SHe went to hang up but stopped when Hotch said

"_Wait, Reid. There's something I want you to take with you." _

When we arrived at the cemetery we could hear yelling

"This is him, and somebody changed it. Who changed it? Who changed it?! This is all your fault. I never should have brought you here."

"Stop. Please"

"What did you do to my father's grave? Tell me now! "

"Claire, you don't need to do this. "

"I'm not the one who ruined it. You did" as we entered JJ headed over to a tree with a clear shot at Claire.

When she was in position i cautiously walked over to Claire saying

"Excuse me. May I approach?" she spun around and teled

"Who are you? Go away!" i put my hands up and continued

"Please, just give me the chance to speak. I've looked for so long"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I've searched this entire city trying to find the right person. Are you the right person?… The dance, the other evening. Do you remember?"

"The dance?"

"I met the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. We danced the whole night, and then... She was gone. but she left this behind." I pulled out the evidence bag Hotch asked me to bring and pulled out the shoe Claire previously left at a crime scene. I held it up and said

"May I?" A small smile graced her lips and I knelt down in front of her. I then went onto swapping her flat shoe with the heel. When the shoe was on, I looked up at her, smiled and gently held her hand. I then placed a small kiss on the back of her hand before standing up and saying

"I brought the carriage"

"You did?"

"It's waiting for us" I then wrapped her arm around mine and led her towards the SUV.

_"The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract positive thinking." Albert Einstein._

Elenas P.O.V.

Emily insisted on driving me to the airport. The guys drove themselves but Emily wanted to take me. In the car Emily said

"Thanks for telling me all that stuff the other day"

"It's okay, it felt nice to talk to someone about it. Someone outside of the pack"

"I'm a phone call away if you want to talk about anything else, you know that"

"I know, Em. Thanks"

We then pulled into an airport and up onto a runway. We got out of the car and as I grabbed my bag I noticed that the jet wasn't our jet. I then looked around and said

"Where are the guys?" EMily put her hands in her jacket pockets and answered  
"They are at the other airport"

"WHy are we here then? And whose jet is this?"

"It's interpol's jet" I looked at her with a confused expression on my face. She smiled and said

"It's been 12 months, Elena. It's time to go home…"

Reids P.O.V.

I've been home from work for a few hours now. Currently I'm sat down on the couch, reading a book, a cup of coffee and the TV playing in the background. I was reading for about 30 minutes before my phone started buzzing from the table next to me. I put my book down and reached over for my phone. After seeing the caller ID I answered immediately.

"Hey Babe"

"_Hey you" _it was Elena

"How are you?"

"_Meh, could be better"_

"What's up?"

"_Missing home, missing you" _

"I miss you too"

"_How's work been since I left?" _There was then a gentle knock at the door. I ignored it and continued the conversation

"Works been okay, still weird having an empty desk next to mine"

"_You're not gonna answer the door?" _

"No, why?" There was another knock at the door before El said

"_I think you should answer it" _I quickly placed my phone on the table in front of me before getting up and quickly walking to the door. When I opened the door a wave of emotions struck me when I saw Elena standing there with a large bag slung across her shoulder. She put her phone away, smiled and muttered  
"Hi" I snapped out of my daze and replied

"Hi" Without even hesitating I pulled her into a loving hug. I held her close as i said  
"What are you doing here?"  
"We just got back from a case in London. I managed to get some time to come home… You gonna let me in?" I pulled out of the hug straight away and stuttered

"Y-yeah yeah" I took her bag and stepped aside. I closed the door behind her and placed her bag by the door.

I then turned around and said

"So how long are you back for?"

"Couple days I think? I'm not sure"

"That's better than nothing" I put my hands in my trouser pocket and said

"Rossi is doing this thing at his house later, fancy going?" She came and stood in front of me, wrapped her arms around my neck, mine instinctively went around her waist as she said

"I'd much rather stay here with you, no offence to the others" I let out a small laugh, smiled and said

"I think they'd understand…I missed you"  
"I missed you so much"


	5. Chapter 5

Reid's P. O. V

The next morning I was woken by natural sunlight entering the room through a gap between the curtains. Unlike the last 12 months, I wasn't alone. I smiled as I looked down at my sleeping girlfriend. Her hair falling effortlessly down the side of her face; her legs tangled around mine and her arm across my chest. I didn't want to move, I wanted to stay like this forever. I wrapped my arms around Elena and pulled her closer to me. I closed my eyes for a split second before there was a knock at the front door.

I sighed and gently untangled myself from El. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and grabbed a t-shirt before heading to the door. I pulled the shirt over my head before looking in the peephole, it was Morgan. I then took the chain off the door and opened it. Still half asleep I said

"Yeah" he looked at me and said

"Late night kid?"

"You could say that. What's up?"

"We were all worried when you didn't show up to Rossi's last night and your phone is off"

"Sorry lost track of time, I was going to message you, tell you a couldn't make it"

"You better have a good excuse and not that you got lost in a book" I was just about to answer when Elena came out of the bedroom saying

"Spence?" I looked over and saw her wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

Morgan then pushed the door open more and smiled when he saw Elena. He then looked at me and I said

"Good enough excuse?"

"Good enough excuse… I'll leave you to it, Pretty Boy" I went to close the door but he stopped me and said

"Oh and if Garcia finds out that Elena is back in town without seeing us, god help you both"

"Goodbye Morgan" with that I closed the door. I turned around, smiled at Elena but before either of us could say anything Elena's phone rang.

She sighed and muttered

"Give me a break" she went back to the bedroom to grab it, I went to follow but my landline rang instead. Without hesitating I answered it saying

"Dr Reid here"

"_Reid it's Hotch, sorry to do this but we've got a case"_

"Urg seriously it's Saturday…"

"_20 minutes Reid and turn your phone on" _

"Yep" I put the phone down and headed to the bedroom.

I lingered outside the door as I heard Elena on the phone

"Yes Sir… got it… ETA… I'll meet you there, Sir" it went silent for a moment before she said

"Spence this is your room, you don't have to wait outside" I opened the door and headed to my closet. As I opened it I said

"So do you have a case?"

"Yeah, and from the looks of it Hotch just called you"

"Yeah" I pulled out a shirt and said

"So do you want the good news or bad news" I just gave her a confused look. She pulled a set of clothes from her bag and said

"Good news, the pack is working with the BAU on this case" I smiled before it dropped and said

"Bad news?"

"Kally Smith just broke out of prison"

"You have got to be kidding…

—

Elenas P.O.V.

20 minutes later we arrived at quantico. As we got out of the lift, Garcia was heading towards the bullpen. She looked at spence and said  
"And what happened to you…." She stopped mid sentence when she did a double take and noticed me. A huge smile grew on her face as she said  
"Oh my god. oh my god. oh my god" she pulled me into a bone crushing hug and said

"What are you doing here?"

"The pack is working this case with you guys" she pulled away and said

"No way we get to meet the famous Pack!" I was just about to reply when JJ and Morgan came around the corner and Morgan said

"Well well look who it is" JJ immediately hugged me as morgan said

"So you decided to get dressed then" Spence elbowed him in the ribs whilst JJ and Garcia just laughed. JJ then wrapped her arm around my shoulders as we walked into the bullpen.

"Welcome home" I wrapped an arm around her back and replied  
"Good to be back"

We then entered the conference room where Rossi and Hotch were waiting. Rossi smiled and said

"How are you doing Kid?" I hugged him and replied

"I'm good Dave, it's good to see you" I pulled out of the hug and to everyone's surprise Hotch gave me a quick hug. A Familiar face then came into the room. She smiled at me and said

"Elena" i went over to her saying

"Hey Katey, Long time" I shook her hand before JJ said

"You know each other?" Kate smiled and said

"Best hand to hand combat coach out there" Garcia turned to Morgan and said

"I thought you held that title" I let out a small laugh and said

"Why do you think he never trains with me? Doesn't want to be beaten by a girl" everyone laughed a bit before he said

"I've trained with you once and you broke my nose" I shrugged and replied

"Not my fault you can't take a hit".

We all then sat down around the table, it felt good to be back in my usual seat next to Spencer. Hotch then said

"Elena, can you tell us anything about this case?" I looked over at him in confusion before saying

"I thought guys asked us for help, it's your case"

"Captain O'Neil came to us. This is a pack case"

"Then i have no idea what it is. To be honest i thought the guys were going to Italy, Emily leant me the Interpol Jet so i could come home for a bit" Rossi then said

"What happened?"i looked at him and replied

"What?" Kate then said

"He's right, something is off with you"

I glanced at Hotch before Cap entered the room closely followed by the others. He then began talking

"Two months ago the pack was working a case in Vietnam. It was supposed to be a simple assignment…" I looked down at the table before saying

"Cap, please," I felt the team's eyes on me as Cap continued.

"We were assigned to Eliminate drug dealer Fadhil. He was running a homegrown terrorist assembly line out by the Madre de Dios River basin" Jenson then took over

"We found the compound and painted it for a laser-targeted bomb. It's something we've done before. Should have been simple" Toby then took over

"But after we called it in, I noticed that they were using kids as mules. 25 kids in total. We immediately called it in to mission control but were told to ignore it and prep for extraction" Tej then continued

"So to try and force the airstrike to pull back we called an on-site abort after damaging our equipment…." I then took over

"I called in the on-site abort but we didn't get through the mission control. The secure military channel we were using got hacked by this guy who called himself Niklaus. One of the first rules when on a mission like this is that you don't use names over the airways, it's a security risk" Garcia then said

"So what's the big deal?" Rouge then said

"He knew Elena's name. Well last name anyway" Toby then said  
"The airstrike was going to go ahead no matter what we did so we made the decision to go and get those kids out ourselves…" without a second thought or hesitation i got up and said

"I'm not staying for the next bit". I walked out of the room and went to sit at Spencer's desk.

I was there for a good 30 minutes before a pair of hands were on my shoulders.

"I don't want to talk about it, Spence" he then walked around me and leant on the edge of the desk before saying

"Then don't, just listen" he held onto my hand as he continued

"Elena I love you more than anything, nothing will ever change that. You could have told me, you could have talked to me about this… but I get why you didn't" I ran my thumb over the back of his hand and said

"I didn't want to drag you into this part of my life"

"You are my life. Just promise me something"

"What"

"What we do from here on, we do together or we don't do it at all" I smiled and said

"Have I told you how much I love you, Spencer Reid"

"You never have to" he then kissed the back of my hand before standing up and saying

"Now we've got a job to do" he helped me up and when i was on my feet i gave him a small kiss. We both smiled and then i said

"Let's get to work"


End file.
